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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 1992)
* day, August 4, >rig i motions like swat and roll, sion," Johnsons iduct research in deep water, solving tomorrow' if the safety of c g rigs. hese problems, es, begins when nei termine forces or -uctures and nett and materials at sea are developed The Battalion Vol. 91 No. 188 (6 pages) ‘Serving Texas A&M Since 1893’ Wednesday, August 5, 1992 Inside What do the Dead Sea Scrolls really mean? Page 5 Economic forecasting gauge falls for first time in six months ' courts es I work on," one ' of the city's anint s office issued re first six months e ses involve expire The tickets often bring their pets i ■>on the complaint, 1 to neuter thef j license or shots, WASHINGTON (AP) - The govern ment's chief economic forecasting gauge fell in June for the first time in six months, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, signaling a wobbly economy through the November election and beyond. The 0.2 percent drop in the depart ment's Index of Leading Indicators, de signed to predict economic activity six to nine months in advance, was the first since it declined 0.1 percent in December and the worst since January 1991. The drop followed gains of 0.6 percent in May and 0.3 percent in both April and March. > Analysts expected the slight decrease and said it was not a sign of renewed re- ession, but a symptom of the weak and rratic growth bedeviling the economy since the middle of last year. "It's evidence we're in . . . for more of the same — a lack luster, limpid, lethargic per formance that goes on month after month," said economist Robert Dederick of Northern Trust Co. in Chicago. That's bad news for Presi dent Bush and other incum bents who would prefer that voters on Election Day feel good about the economy, or at least optimistic that hard times soon will be over. An even more politically important statistic — the unemployment rate for July — is scheduled for release by the La bor Department on Friday. Despite five consecutive quarters of weak economic growth that economists say constitute a Bad Times Ahead? Economic Indicators revealed the following: — A drop in the inflation-adjusted supply of money. — A decrease in the average factory worker’s work week. — An increase in new claims for unemployment insurance. — A decline in stock prices. — A fall in building permits. — A slump in consumer confidence. recovery, the nation's unemployment rate has continued to rise. Many analysts now believe jobless ness, after hitting an eight-year high of 7.8 percent in June, will improve slightly. But few are as optimistic as Bush administra tion prognosticators who believe it will dip below 7 percent by year's end. "Unless that rate can drop noticeably between now and November, people are going to feel pretty glum and take it out on incumbents," said economist Paul Boltz of T. Rowe Price Associates in Bal timore. "I think we'll see some improvement . . . but I think the improvement will be perceived as late in the day." In June, six of the 11 forward-looking indicators that comprise the leading index contributed to its decline. One was un changed and four were positive. The negative indicators, in order of magnitude, were: — A drop in the inflation-adjusted sup ply of money in the economy. — A decrease in the average factory worker's workweek from 41.3 hours to 41.1 hours. — An increase in new claims for unem ployment insurance from an average of 415,000 a week in May to 429,000 in June. — A decline in stock prices as mea sured by the Standard & Poor's 500. — A fall in building permits. — A slump in consumer confidence as measured by the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center. The positive indicators were a gain in new orders and contracts for business equipment and buildings, a rise in new orders to factories for consumer goods, a slowdown in business delivery times which indicates increased demand, and an increase in the price of various raw materials. ops SU1 her lawsuit again aire will fulfill ial campaign, in federal court action suit, filedo ulfill his promises Texas physics experts give collider vote great reviews Robin Goodpaster The Battalion dropping out of tin . platform, nowledgemento aas demonstrated has been technical! ■tolen illion in fines a: tered his estate b errace door. The 'Interieur d'une de of a Room), was living room. Three were taken from a igliani's "Portrait rtrait of a Woman) ngs of dancers b; The U.S. Senate's approval of funding for the Superconducting week chp lil < pS Su P er Collider will breathe new telephone call fro: f ‘ nto th . e Program, opening up the door for important scientific advances, an A&M physics pro fessor said. Dr. Robert Webb, professor in the physics department at Texas A&M, said that he was very pleased that the SSC was given a reprieve by the Senate. He described the Supercon ducting Super Collider as a mi- roscope to look at matter from a very close distance. • liiun U. ™ « It is an i m p 0r t an t project for k j X c S ? r ! the nation for future scientific de- and saidSundayl ve ] 0 p men t j n the United States," jell the paintings - ^ebb said. ranee to raiseLt p ro b es t he forces between matter and matter," Webb said. It puts matter very close togeth er so that we can look at these forces at very small distances and see what ramifications it has." For instance, there may be new particles produced or new interactions may take place, Webb said. "The project is one step closer to completion (because of the Senate's action)," Webb said. "I am hopeful in the future that we I can complete the project in a timely fashion." I Webb gave reasons for favor- I ing timely completion of the pro- I jed. "This project is sup>posed to be I completed in 1998. If there are I problems at higher levels (Con- I gress), it might take longer to I complete. Inflation and other £ few I factors might hurt the project I tremendously," Webb said. | The Texas A&M physics facul- ■ ty stand to benefit from this pro- ject and that SSC research will be come an important part of the Texas A&M physics graduate program, Webb said. Texas A&M currently has five faculty members and five post doctoral people working on SSC research. The funding level to A&M has yet to be determined by Con- j gress, Webb said. Dr. Austin M. Gleeson, chair man of the physics department at the University of Texas, said that in the long term, the super collid er project will be a viable entity and that the physics group would be very involved with the project. The University of Texas has four senior faculty people work ing on the super collider project. NICK PENA/The Battalion Out with the old and in with the new Ronnie Underwood (in truck), a mattress with new ones. Phil Curtis, Ronnie's employee, producer from Fort Worth, collects the old helps Ronnie load the old mattresses into the mattresses from Southside after replacing them truck. “I 'DY KNOWS NE-UPS : WE DO" 'offer. JS ’-tuned car produces the harmful emissions oerly maintained car. med car can use 9% than a poorly-tuned Shuttle crew encounters experimental difficulty Mission Control instructs Atlantis' astronauts to halt testing of half-ton satellite CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Atlantis' astronauts began releasing a satellite on miles of string Tuesday, but immediately halted the experiment when the half-ton metal ball rocked from side to side. Mission Control instructed the crew to pull the satellite back down on the docking ring of the four-story launch tower in the cargo bay. The satellite was docked after several mo ments of difficulty. The satellite was released, and the proce dure aborted, as Atlantis flew over the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of Chile. The experiment already had been running three hours, or two orbits, late because of a tuck power cable. Flight directors assessed the latest problem and discussed what to do next. Atlantis' astronauts freed the power cable, but the delay caused NASA to reduce the amount of tether to be unreeled from just over 12 miles to six to seven miles. The astronauts disconnected the cable from the satellite on their 11th try when commander Loren Shriver fired the shuttle jets and nudged the plug's release pin free. The cable is one of two that provide power and communications to Italy's Tethered Satel lite from the shuttle. The first cable was un plugged without problem. Everything worked well as the astronauts unlatched and turned on the 1,140-pound satellite and raised the four-story platform in the cargo bay, with the satellite perched on top like a golf ball on a tee. The satellite was to be unreeled from At lantis by a wire and fiber cord just one-tenth of an inch in diameter. The experiment was sup posed to last 30 hours. Scientists expected the tether to generate several thousand volts of electricity when ex tended. Original plans called for a 12-mile tether, but the delay caused NASA to scale back. Power production would be similar to the wire and magnets of a car alternator; in this case, the tether would cut through Earth's magnetic field at 17,500 mph. Current should flow down the tether from the satellite to the shuttle, and electron beam guns in the cargo bay would shoot the electri cal charge back into the charged ionosphere and complete the electrical circuit. U.S. pushes for aid to young victims of war-torn Sarajevo Americans want Red Cross access to camps in Bosnia-Herzegovina WASHINGTON (AP) - The victims are children and the world watches and reacts with horror. But there is no sign the United States or its allies see any way of stopping the carnage in what was once Yugoslavia. The frustration was clear in the tortured phrasing used Tuesday by Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Niles. "Historical experience with other armies in Bosnia- Herzegovina does not suggest this is a place one would want to get involved in," Niles told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee. When Iraq overran Kuwait two years ago. President Bush displayed no such hesitation as he used the United Nations to build a broad international coalition to thwart Saddam Hussein. The murders of children in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the establishment of detention camps powerfully reminiscent of Nazi concentration camps have stirred demands for similar action. At the United Nations, the United States pushed Tuesday for a Security Council statement demanding that the Red Cross or some other neutral agency be given access to the camps. There was no mention of military involvement. But Yugoslavia is not the Persian Gulf. The issues are not as clear-cut. Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic is not — at least, not yet — seen as a villain on a par with Saddam Hussein. At the Pentagon, spokesman Pete Williams put the responsibility on the shoulders of the United Nations. "Our current posture in Yugoslavia is to respond to requests from the United Nations," Williams said. "All the United Nations has asked us to do so far is relief flights into Sarajevo." But neither at the United Nations nor in the councils of the European Community has anyone come up with a plausible plan to force an end to the fighting. No one believes military intervention in Yugoslavia would result in a quick and easy triumph. There is no massed Iraqi army to punish with relentless air strikes. The enemy forces are snipers and artillery and mortar crews entrenched in rugged terrain. What can the United States do? Raymond Garthoff, a former State Department official and ambassador to Bulgaria, expressed the dilemma: "I don't know. I'm not sure what we ought to do." Ag journalism makes department transition Program returns to its former status By Todd Stone The Battalion The agricultural journalism program at Texas A&M has re turned to the Department of Jour nalism after being administered through the agricultu -al educa tion department this spring. "This is a program that has a great history, and I believe, a great future," Journalism Depart ment Head Dr. Charles Self said. "This is an incredibly important program that no one wanted to lose." Still, the ag journalism pro gram was nearly a permanent vic tim of the state higher education funding cuts. These cuts forced the College of Liberal Arts and College of Agriculture not to provide the journalism department with the necessary funds for a new faculty position solely dedicated to ag journalism. Without this faculty member, the program would not have met qualifications for ac creditation in journalism. During the spring, ag journal ism was placed within the agri cultural education department. A plan was being considered to of fer students a more general, ag communications program under the College of Agriculture in place of ag journalism. Before the program was moved, 62 students were study ing ag journalism. Few students who applied this spring were able to participate. "It was not a decision anybody liked," Self said. "It was not a good solution, but we had no choice." Ag journalism majors contin ued taking classes from the Col lege of Agriculture and the jour nalism department. "It (ag journalism) changed housing, and students weren't ad mitted for awhile," said Amy Mc Donald, coordinator for agricul tural journalism degree program. "But we maintained contact with those students so they would be able to maintain their training in ag journalism." In response to an alumni report that ag journalism may be elimi nated, former A&M journalism students, current students and professional ag journalists com plained about the program's hia tus to A&M officials. "Industry professionals appre ciate the ag journalism program at A&M and look to A&M to pro vide leadership for ag communi cation," McDonald said. The Provost's office responded by providing the necessary funds to support the ag journalism fac ulty position. Both the Depart ment of Journalism and College of Agriculture have pledged to find the funds to keep the program in good shape. "It was a herculean effort on the Provost's part to find the See Journalism/Page 4